White County Animal Control requested that Smithgall come over and look over the dogs at the pound and said if
Smithgall couldn't take two off its hands, two dogs would have to be euthanized because of overcrowding.
Smithgall Board Member Glenda Worley went over to the pound and Annie immediately stood out from all the others. She had been found lying in the middle of the road, emaciated and weak. ":All dogs are sweet to me," said Glenda, "but Annie was just so supersweet and calm. She just lay there staring at us while the other dogs were going wild. It seemed to me there was a sadness about her."
Annie was taken to the vet to be checked out and then brought to the Smithgall Shelter. There she quickly captured the heart of board member Dennis Clines who would often walk her on the grounds. "Her sweetness and shyness just struck a chord in my heart," Dennis recalls. "I had three other dogs at home and had lost an Australian shepherd I had for about twelve years. I decided to take Annie home temporarily to try put some weight back on her. I wasn;t really figuring on adding another dog to my home but Annie just fit in so well with me and other dogs, I just had to adopt her." Annie has become very attached to Dennis and the two of them love hiking together. Dennis is working on patiently training her to become a certified therapy dog that he can take to nursing homes and schools as he does with another of his dogs, Cowboy, who is a certified therapy dog. Annie loves the training sessions, he says. "Anne is one of the sweetest dogs I've ever encountered." says Dennis. Annie seems to think he is extra special, too. He was about a half mile from his home when his motorcycle broke down. He got down to inspect it and looked down the road and Annie came running to him. She seemed to have sensed he was in trouble. The pair walked home together.
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